Oasis of the Zombies (1982) User Reviews

Lame and Cheesy Zombie Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 3/10 · 4 July 2012]

In the WWII, a platoon of German soldiers is attacked by the Allies in an oasis and only the British Commander survives. The Sheik and his daughter Aisha (Doris Regina) rescue him in the desert and bring him to their house, where he recovers. Years later, the survivor tells to the mercenary Kurt (Henry Lambert) that the German troop was transporting a shipment of 6 million-dollar in gold and he informs the location of the treasure. However Kurt kills him and organizes an expedition to find the treasure.

Meanwhile the student Robert Blabber (Manuel Gélin) reads notes of his father and discovers that there is a treasure hidden in the desert. Robert joins his friends and they travel to the desert to seek the gold. However, when they reach the location, they are attacked by an army of German living dead.

"La Tumba de los Muertos Vivientes" is a lame and cheesy zombie movie by Jess Franco. This film is incredibly awful: story, screenplay, acting, dialogs, cinematography and special effects. The senseless exploitation in the beginning, with two women dressing very short Bermuda shorts is ridiculous. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Oasis dos Zumbis" ("Oasis of the Zombies")

Interesting make-up and not much else

[vigilante407-1 · 2/10 · 20 January 2007]

There's not a whole lot to keep viewers enraptured with Oasis of the Zombies. A couple of girls in short shorts ... some interesting zombie make-up. That's about it.

The majority of the production comes across as a student film or a badly-staged Turkish action movie. There's a lot of day-for-night filming with no attempt to filter things to make it look even close to early evening. There's a tank running around with its turret spun so it is pointing at it's own troops while moving. And there are kids that are even more stupid then the dumbest kids in the cheapest American slasher flick.

The only thing to recommend in it is that there are some interesting make-up jobs on some of the Nazis. Other than that, and the cute girls that get killed early on, this movie's barely good for background noise if your radio's broken.

I seem to have found myself................extremely bored.

[Zeegrade · 2/10 · 8 March 2009]

Jess Franco has directed what is widely considered two of the worst zombie movies of all time, Zombie Lake and Oasis of the Zombies. How Franco, who writes and directs this yawn-inducer, is considered an exploitation icon is an absolute mystery to me. There isn't a single scene in this film that hints at any talent whatsoever.

During the second world war a nazi Afrika Korp is ambushed by the British at an Oasis outside of Tripoli where $6,000,000 of gold is buried. Fast forward to the present day, one assumes as the movie gives no dates, and the former British and German commanders meet to discuss where the exact location of the oasis is, excavate the site, and split the gold. As soon as the German learns where the location is he kills the British character. We next jump to a university in London where a young man named Robert receives a message about the death of his dad. Turns out the British commander was his father. Robert feigns sadness and immediately gathers his friends Ronald, the bowl cut dork, Ahmed, who insist on wearing a fez hat making him look even dorkier than Ronald, and Robert's girlfriend. They travel to Tripoli in search of the Sheik who knows the location to the Oasis as well as a warning that it's infested with the living dead corpses of the Nazis. Robert ignores the warnings and travels to the oasis. He does find something more important however. (Eyes Rolling)

Manuel Gelin manages to outdo his zombie counterparts as the most lifeless corpse on the screen. Just watch the scene where he learns of his father's death. Emote baby, emote! The backstory is told through a flashback which has some serious flaws. First is the fact that Robert's dad must be an immortal as he has not aged a day since the war. At least cut his hair and shave that mustache for crissakes! Second, Robert was the product of his father and the Sheik's daughter Aisha. This is during World War II which would make Robert in his late thirties at the very least! Instead Robert is a mid-twenties college student. More Franco brilliance? They at least try to make the Sheik age as he is given silver streaks in his hair and adorned with the most fake mustache ever. The zombies themselves are on par with I Eat Your Skin which was made twenty years earlier. They are basically men smeared with mud, worms, and oatmeal. One of the non-actor zombies looks as if it's a male blow up doll. Probably the source for Jess Franco's "inspiration". Even the ending sucks! Was he hiding the jeep under his sheets? An oasis from solid movie-making. Don't bother.

Tumba / Oasis: 2 somewhat different films

[BRAINIAC-2 · 5/10 · 29 June 2006]

"La Tumba de los muertos vivientes" was the original film that Jess Franco made(and has never appeared in English language to the best of my knowledge), while "Oasis of the Zombies" is a different movie that liberally lifted footage from "Tumba". However, to the best of my memory, the bulk of "Oasis..." is NOT directed by Jess Franco despite the deceptive packaging claim on the DVD box. (Shame on you Image!) While "Tumba..." is the better of the 2 versions (kinda' like snot is better than puke), I still can't really recommend it but to the most forgiving Jess Franco fans. Supposedly Lina Romay is briefly in the "Tumba" version somewhere.

I STAND CORRECTED! **SLIGHT Spoiler ALERT!** (added

I just put myself through the arduous task of watching both "La Tumba de los muertos vivientes" and "Oasis of the Zombies" back-to-back. Hey, sometimes we must suffer for art, right? Even if it isn't ours! (But I digress.)Basically these 2 versions are note for note identical with 2 big exceptions. I think what threw me was the use of battle scene footage which appears to have been taken from a different movie with a slightly bigger budget. Difference #1 is the score which, in "Tumba..." is by "Pablo Villa" whom I suspect is actually Jess Franco most of the time. The music in "Oasis..." is credited to composer Daniel White and is a lot more standard. Decent, but not as wacky sounds as Villa's. Difference #2 is that the couple who appear at the beginning of the film, Colonel Meitzell and his wife, are played by Eduardo Fajardo and Lina Romay in the Spanish version ("La tumba..."). However in the French / English dubbed version ("Oasis...") they are played by another couple. The Meitzell's appear in a later scene with 2 different henchmen from the Spanish version(when they go to the oasis to look for the treasure and are attacked by zombies). Whether or not these scenes were shot at the same time by Franco or later by another director I can't say for sure. But since there is some interaction between both couples and another of the main actors in both versions (Javier Maiza) I would guess that they were. The 2 scenes are the only thing different about the 2 versions footage-wise as far as I can tell and they are almost note-for-note the same apart from some minor differences. The biggest one being some guts that are seen pulled from Mrs. Meitzell during her attack in "Oasis...", whereas no guts are seen coming from Lina Romay's lovely stomach in "Tumba...". Also Maiza's character is murdered slightly differently (gun vs. poison injection). For what it is worth, the Spanish language DVD (Tumba) is a bit more dark looking then the US Image DVD release (Oasis). I know you all will sleep better tonight knowing all of this information. I'm not sure why all those years ago when I first saw this film that I had remembered "La Tumba..." seeming so different. All I can think is that I must have been slightly altered at the time, which I suggest you doing if you attempt to watch either of these versions.

Meditate- Regurgitate

[hendrixy6 · 14 October 2011]

When someone says, "I like bad movies." you can see how sincere they are by subjecting them to anything Jesus Franco has ever made. Franco films are my meditation. They seem to numb my mind more than a crate of wine and a week of network television. This movie is classically Franco. It has a plodding pace, horrible voice overs, hot women, terrible lighting, deliriously bad camera work, a script written by a chimp, varying and disconnected ambient noise... Christ, Jess Franco is terrible and shamelessly I adore his films. They have the feel of a twelve year old with his first camera. His childishness is abound in this and really, all of his movies. He is a testament to tenacity (and hot women).

Out of 180 directed films, THIS is Franco's worst!

[Coventry · 1/10 · 11 May 2005]

"Oasis of the Zombies" is the irrefutable proof that you should NEVER purchase horror movies judging by their cool-sounding titles and/or appealing DVD-covers! Lucky for me, I gained enough cynics (and Franco-experience) over the years in order to keep my expectations towards this one low, and I can only advise people to do the same. This movie is boring, poorly made and very UN-Franco! No sadism and a total lack of sleaze??? What's the matter, Jess? We follow the totally uninteresting treasure hunt of some youngsters in the African desert. During WWII, a Nazi-squadron carrying 6 million $ worth of gold supposedly got ambushed and the loot is still there. So are the Nazis, though, only they're rotten walking corpses now… The little bit of gore and the zombie make-up effects are very OTT and the complete opposite of scary, yet they form the only mildly entertaining aspects of the entire movie. The undead look filthy and disgusting but their attacks appear to be filmed in slow motion! So incredibly tame! "Nazi-zombie"-flicks isn't a very rich horror sub genre, but at least the 1977 "Shock Waves" can be considered a modest classic. Heck, even that dreadful "Zombie Lake" is ten times more entertaining than this turkey. That movie might be retarded but at least it contained some exciting moments.

Hey, it's better than "Resident Evil"!

[Jonny_Numb · 5/10 · 1 July 2007]

Okay, I'll just assume I'm entering a comment for the version of the movie I saw (though who really cares about accuracy with something like this?). "Oasis of the Zombies" has a sketchy, multiple-version history that is finely indicative of director Jess Franco's low-budget, schlockmeister style. I have never really cared much for this Spanish horror hack (though I do think "The Awful Dr. Orloff" is a well-done chiller), but what can I say..."Oasis" holds a weirdly special place in my genre heart. The reviews across the board are mostly condemning if not outright cursing this POS' existence, and I can see where they're coming from--make no mistake, this IS the bottom rung of the zombie ladder. Yet at the same time, this film engages me in some odd way--yes, it is two movies spliced together (sometimes quite badly), but I don't find it boring, or even all that bad. Granted, I've never seen a decent print of the film, the night scenes are either too muddy or too bright (yes, a few take place in broad daylight), the characterizations poor, and the zombie 'action' less than stunning. In the small subgenre of Nazi Zombie Films, "Oasis" falls between the Good ("Shock Waves") and the Ugly (Jean Rollin's "Zombie Lake"). 74 minutes into this 85-minute film, we get the signature image of zombies shambling up a dune against an orange sunset (or sunrise?), and it's the only moment of atmospheric artistry to be found. Still, for those who are inured to this kind of low-end Euro-dreck (myself included), "Oasis" is worth a look--in many ways, it is conceptually interesting enough to be a good remake candidate.

Jess's Oasis.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 4/10 · 6 June 2020]

Recently seeing Pedro Almodovar's Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom (1980) and Jose Ramon Larraz's The Coming of Sin (1978) (both also reviewed.) I decided to make this a trio of auteur works from Spain, by finishing with "Uncle" Jess Franco. Finding a film of his I've had on the side for ages,I headed out to the oasis.

View on the film:

Detailed in Stephen Thrower's superb book Flowers of Perversion:The Delirious Cinema of Jess Franco that the studio rushed the production out after Zombie Lake (1981) was a hit,and that the film maker, (who had quit Zombie Lake) was later vocal of his hate for the zombie genre, co-writer/(with Ramon Llido) directing auteur "Uncle" Jess Franco makes his distaste for zombies palpable in the opening sequence, where Uncle Jess's signature button bashing trombone zoom-ins unwind from a distance, played with a air of disinterest in getting up close to the zombie shocks.

Rising up with off-cuts from regular composer Daniel White's past scores, Jess keeps the walking dead moving with unintended dips into Comedy,cast in the zombies being covered in cornflour and visibly annoyed at worms being placed on their faces. Just before the zombies get their hands on the humans, in the final 10 minutes Jess displays some of his unique stylisation in magic hour wide-shots panning along the humans dipping into the zombie oasis.

As bad as a movie can get

[bensonmum2 · 1/10 · 14 April 2006]

I don't know that it's really fair for me to write anything on Oasis of the Zombies as I've never actually seen the entire film. I've tried to watch it at least four different times, but, I can't seem to get through it to the end. Why? Oasis of the Zombies is such a complete and utter mess that I either shut it off about half way through because I just can't take it anymore or I end up falling asleep out of total boredom. Even by Jess Franco standards, Oasis of the Zombies makes no sense plot-wise and it's as dull as dishwater. The acting is atrocious. The special effects are so bad they go beyond being laughable. Oasis of the Zombies has to be one of the worst excuses for a movie I've ever had the misfortune of attempting to watch. Maybe I'll give it another go at some point in the future, but I rather doubt it.

I don't want to come across as one of those people who dismisses Franco as a no talent hack. That's just not true. There are some Franco films I really enjoy (Venus in Furs, The Diabolical Dr. Z, and Night of the Skull to name just a few), so it's not like I don't "get" Franco. I just can't imagine even the most vocal and ardent of Franco supporters enjoying this trash.

Don't Bother Watching - A Complete Waste Of Time

[JustLikeAnyone · 1/10 · 8 January 2007]

You would think that the combination of a peaceful and serene oasis type of setting with Nazi zombies thrown in it would make for a fun watch. In actuality, this movie would be a negative number on the fun scale. This is not scary, cool, exciting and definitely not worth the time. It is boring, impossible to understand at times, and visually painful. Even for those of you who watch these type of movies for a good laugh will be pained by this movies total lack of basically anything that makes watching movies an enjoyable hobby. There was only ONE part that I laughed at. In an attempt to win people over with sexuality there was this one funny part in the beginning of the film. The first two victims of the zombies were two young girls riding in a Jeep out to the oasis. They hop out of the Jeep and begin to walk around. It just so happens that are wearing short shorts with their butts hanging out. This would not be too funny except the fact that the camera stayed focused in on their butts for a good few minutes, catching every jiggle and movement of their flesh. After this good laugh I was tortured by the bad dialogue and plot, boring stretches where nothing happens, and the fact that it was filmed on really crappy film which causes parts of the movie, especially near the end, to be completely unrecognizable. There is no real action, no real cool deaths and no real reason to watch this movie. Trust me skip this one for even the cheesy movie hunters will be vomiting over how bad this one is.

Almost cheesy enough to be worth while

[hauntedalways · 5/10 · 15 September 2017]

For an awful movie, even considering my fairly paracinematic tastes, at least there's a good quote: "Let's make Molotov cocktails like in school!" There's also a wonderfully cheesy line at the end, but I won't spoil that.

Other than those lines, the only thing worth watching for is the corny music and sound effects. The first zombie you see appears to be completely plastic, like something you could buy at Walmart. That might sound over-the-top corny good, but it's not. There's also very little plot and almost no character development, but I wouldn't expect more from an early 80s horror flick. I did expect to the see the destruction of at least one Nazi zombie, but alas, none.

That said, I give it a five because it is worth watching if you just want some decent background noise, there's one or two alright zombies, and the screaming of "er-EE-ka" actually made me giggle. I'd definitely pick it over something like Paranormal Activity.

Great atmosphere, extreme zombies....how come nobody likes it?

[tomas208 · 10/10 · 13 March 2000]

I remember watching this movie when i was thirteen years old. Back then i thought it was boring, but now I know you have to watch a zombie movie more than once to fully appreciate it. I bought it a week ago, and have seen it three times since, with ever growing enthusiasm. The zombie make-up is fantastic, so is the music. It doesn't matter if the acting is poor or that the violence is tame. The atmosphere and the totally incredible zombies give this film a special place in my heart forever.

The horror....the horror....

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 20 November 2006]

This is Jesus Franco's addition to the zombie boom of the early 80s. He may be an exploitation director but is more a sleaze-monger than an out and out horror film-maker. In this respect he is similar to Jean Rollin, who was also roped into making a zombie film at the time. As a result, Franco's Oasis of the Zombies and Rollin's Zombie Lake are among the worst zombie films ever made.

The film begins with a couple of young women in tight denim shorts wandering around the cursed oasis while Franco goes into zoom overdrive. He zooms into all manner of irrelevant details throughout the movie. The girls are then attacked by the undead. The main story then unfolds. A WWII veteran knows the whereabouts of $6,000,000 of gold. He reveals that it is in the cursed oasis and is then killed by his partner, who wants it all to himself. The man's son Robert subsequently reads his diaries and discovers the secret of the gold bullion. He then travels to Africa with some friends in search of the booty. Unfortunately, the gold is guarded by zombies who previously were the German soldiers who were transporting it through the Sahara before being ambushed and wiped out by an Allied force led by the Robert's father.

There is a hypnotic effect evident while watching this movie. It is a result of the stultifying pace and the music. The soundtrack is certainly persistent. It has effectively been produced by someone with a Casio keyboard and no musical ability whatsoever. As I said, this, combined with the lengthy shots of people not doing very much at all, creates a hypnotic effect which, undoubtedly, will send some people to sleep. I thought it was kind of weird and, despite itself, occasionally effective. Hypnotic too, is the acting. Hypnotically rubbish that is. Worst of all is the actor who plays Robert. His remorse at his father's death is laughable. He receives the news in a manner similar to a man who has just been informed that the lawnmower he ordered is not available in green, only in turquoise. His emotional response to his father's death really is that inane. It has to be said that, as a central character, Robert is a complete cretin. Despite being warned about not going anywhere near the oasis, he leads his friends there anyway. Of course they are slaughtered. But Robert survives. And when asked if he found what he was looking for in the oasis he replies, 'I found myself'. What the hell does that mean? His journey to the oasis of zombies could hardly be described as a voyage of self-discovery. Unless, of course, he means he discovered he was a moron who was responsible for the death of his friends through negligence and idiocy.

The flashback scene showing the battle between the British and Germans is fun. It is a cheese-tastic fight with men dying in a highly comedic choreographed fashion. These men subsequently become the zombies that haunt the oasis. No explanation, however, is given for the fact that they now sport early 80's haircuts...perhaps this is an effect of 40 years of zombification? I'm no expert, so I accept that this is possible. If Adolf Hitler came back as a zombie perhaps he would resemble Dr. Hook.

As far as the blood and guts side of things is concerned, there is a limited supply. The women are killed in a somewhat sleazy manner (this is Franco after all) with the zombies slavering over them. The men are killed in a more perfunctory fashion. The make-up is pretty cheap and cheerful. Some of the lead zombies look half-decent but most look like men who fell asleep at a party and were 'decorated' by their drunken friends.

I had some fun with this movie, despite the fact that I recognise its poorness. It has a cheapo Eurotrash feel to it that I, sadly, am a sucker for. If, however, you have more sense than me then you will be, no doubt, thoroughly appalled by this effort. And I would fully understand. But if you are inclined towards Euro-sleaze and/or bad cinema then dip in.

Extraordinarily slow pacing, but this North African zombie flick is a little atmospheric

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 6 September 2016]

OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES has to be one of the slowest-paced zombie flicks of all time, but it's still not the worst – that's an 'honour' that's been taken by the recent-ish, genuinely brain-dead likes of the DAY OF THE DEAD remake. This is cult director Jess Franco's idea of a zombie film, a French production set in the North African desert. The story goes that a shipment of lost gold is being hunted by all and sundry, who fail to realise that a horde of Nazi zombies are in fact protecting the lost treasure.

It's an idea that sounds good on paper, but poor production values serve to ruin the little fun there is. For a start, there's a distinct lack of zombies, apart from two 2 minute sequences. The first comes halfway through, the last at the end. These are brief, violent attacks by the living dead, who indulge in a little gut-munching before sinking back beneath the sands. Sadly, there's nothing to distinguish them as 'Nazi' zombies; they look pretty much like any other European zombie, although the static masks and bulging eyes at least make them look weird and more than a little creepy.

The rest of the film is full of exposition and, invariably with Franco, a little sex. There's nudity from some attractive young starlets and lots of riding around in jeeps. Although the odds are stacked against him, Franco manages to elicit a little atmosphere in his desert scenes, which stops this from being a total mess. There's a genuinely eerie feel to the isolated oasis locale and the scenes of hands rising from the sands are effectively done if nothing else. Otherwise, the acting is bad, although the script fleshes out the characters a little more than normal…they feel like real people, with all their foibles, rather than just walking victims. You could do worse – a lot worse!

Nazi zombies don't share.

[lost-in-limbo · 28 September 2008]

With the legendary stinker reputation that this Jess Franco fable bestows (together with Jean Rollin's 'Zombie Lake'), I just could help myself to see what all the fuss was about. To tell the truth I was expecting something much, much worse when I got to the end of it, while viewable (think along the lines of a crash car taking place and you simply having trouble taking your eyes off it) I still couldn't deny just how uninvolved, flat and dull it was despite being compelled.

This leery zero-budget schlock never captures the premise's promising idea (where it has Nazi zombies protecting the gold from anyone who enters the oasis in the African desert) and doesn't go anywhere we haven't already been before. The lack of money for the production wouldn't have helped, but the execution is clunky and tame on all fronts for something that needed to be more risqué (no gore or nudity). A repetitively slow-going mess with incoherent story-telling and woodenly wordy script is what comes about. It's hard to get excited seeing the same lingering zooms, ponderous actions and having to listen to Daniel White's lousy score of cringe-induced skews being dragged out.

The ultra-cheap FX work for the threatening zombies (who seem to like to croak and shuffle) look like there done up in scrappy papier-mâché, but it has a decaying quality to it that's effective. Murky, washed out photography and lack of lighting doesn't make good use of the exotically bone-dry locations or helping to figure out just when it's night or day. Atmosphere is non-existent, but there's one decent creepy image Franco pulls off involving zombie silhouettes' moving down the dunes with the sun setting (or was it rising) in the backdrop and an well-organised explosive war set-piece during the sequence we're learning about the history of the Oasis and it's dead protectors. Acting is poor (but there are some stunning women about), and the character's they play (mainly the college kids) are plain stupid.

A doggedly uneventful zombie film that just manages to hold a spell over you. I don't know how though?

Nazi Zombies? How can this go wrong? ...Well it does.

[Kammurabi · 1/10 · 30 May 2007]

OK, as most reasonable folks might...when I find out this has to do with Nazi zombies, I think..."how can this go wrong?"

First, to the good part. A couple of the zombies were designed pretty well with swollen bulging eyeballs and live insects or worms crawling in their head... (+2 points) That is, I'm afraid, the last of the (+) points to be distributed to this film.

The zombies are only peripherally nazi. (-15 points) As in they may have been Nazis at one time but they certainly do not hold any undead yet lingering loyalty to Hitler or the national socialist party. I suppose my pre-movie imagination was firing with images of zombies in SS uniforms or at least the swastika armband and a somnambulistic goose step march. Nothing like that to be found here, these zombies appear to have rather generic former lives and never really become anything like a threat in this movie at all. No...I am afraid the real enemy here is the film itself. (-10 points) This movie could have been good if, I don't know, THE ENTIRE MOVIE HAD BEEN DONE OVER AGAIN DIFFERENTLY!?

This movie starts out with a couple bimbos in short shorts who are obviously on an afternoon drive to try and see the world outside of Los Angeles; only somehow they drive into the middle of Saharan North Africa. They deserve what they get. (-5 points)

There were 15-20 minutes of footage that I could not even see. Not the cringe and look away kind of thing, no...I actually couldn't see what the hell was happening. (-20 points) Maybe that was a blessing in disguise because the parts I did see, I really didn't want to see. As in most Bad Movies, there are always scenes where nothing is really happening and you are either watching a car drive down the street for 1 or 2 full minutes or you are watching a guy standing around looking at nothing in particular for a full minute or more....well Oasis of the Zombies has all this and more! (-15 points)

There were moments where I had the feeling the filmmakers were trying to make an homage to Ed Wood's Lawrence of Arabia, if Ed Wood ever actually made a Lawrence of Arabia movie...which he didn't. (-7 points)

What is with the dude who keeps saying shee-it? Someone refers to him sounding like he is from Brooklyn. I found this to be about the most intelligent dialogue in the whole film. (-2 points) Anyway this weird and annoying loser gets a girl. (-5 points) And we have to watch him attempt to make love to her. (-7 points) Oh yeah and this is after she has already been attacked by zombies once and yet, inexplicably, stays at the campsite instead of taking the opportunity of fleeing to civilization and relaxing to a life of popping out moron babies. (-2 points)

OK let me get to the end which I will now spoil for you below if you haven't watched the thrilling controversial final scene yet. This was the best scene in the movie (possibly because I knew it was nearly over). The two survivors of the zombies are found lying in the sand by the sheik on a camel. Then all of a sudden after a cut they are in a jeep and driving alongside the sheik on a camel. As if he towed the jeep out there to them. How nice. (-7 points) It took about 5 minutes for them to travel far enough away from the camera so they could finally say The End. It would have been quicker but the jeep nearly gets stuck in the sand twice as they struggle to keep up with the sheik on a camel. (-5 points)

Total Positive Points Earned: 2 Total Negative Points Earned: 98

One of the Bottom Ten Worst movies I've ever seen. Final Score: 2 (out of 100 possible)

.

I've Got A New Super-8 Camera! Let's Make A Movie!

[btara_ktahn · 1/10 · 26 August 2008]

I'm not sure how accurate my title is, but it fits this piece of schlock pretty well.

I rather like how the person who got credited for "Continuity" at the beginning of the movie doesn't appear to know what the word means. It starts out with zombies attacking two girls in short-shorts in the day time, then sort of decides that the zombies can't come out in the daytime during the rest of the film. At the end of the movie, the zombies simply disappear in the sunlight. Maybe they confused "Continuity" with "Caterer".

The zombie effects didn't blend with the "actors" skin-tones under the makeup.

*does the quote/unquote thing for actors since this movie didn't appear to have any in it*

It was a nice effect to have a live worm on the face of each of the zombies for their close ups. I guess they got the parts for being able to balance the worms on their faces and walk at the same time.

The Hammond organ soundtrack seemed to be made up as the film goes along. You'd think the person playing it would've gotten better as they progressed. It only seemed to get worse.

There's a scene in the movie where you see a tourist with a home movie camera filming the call to worship at a mosque. I'm not sure how they captured him filming with the camera while his sound man is recording the sound for it... unless they found someone else with a Super-8 camera for that scene and asked to borrow their's.

And speaking of camera work...

Much of it was Mr. Cameraman zooming in on a single object, then panning around to another object, then down to another object, then cutting away to a closeup of another object, then jerky camera movement to another object and finally resting upon a Nazi swastika with some dead palm fronds around it. After about the tenth time, you're like, 'Okay, we get it. Let's move on, please!' But you're afraid of them moving on because they don't use tripods or dollies in this; it's all Mr. Cameraman and his ability to run around with his little camera thinking he's every bit as good as the same person using a steady-cam. That queasy feeling you're experiencing isn't terror... it's motion sickness.

And, back to the actors...

NO ONE in this film seemed to be the least bit excited to be IN the film. They're all like, "Would you hurry up? My ride is here. Can I go now?" At least William Shatner and Roger Moore DO something when the camera is on them. They don't spend their time looking drugged up and staring off camera. Roger Moore's got that eyebrow acting thing he does, and Shatner has that... I'm not really sure what it is that he does, but his fans seem to like it so I'm happy for him.

And then there's a Sheik and a British officer during a flashback after the British officer gets killed showing what is supposed to be a German officer years later where the ambush occurred. However, both the Shiek and the British officer are both the same ages in 1981 that they were in 1943 or so. Oh, and the Shiek is the grandfather of the guy who takes over as the star of the movie when the flashback is finally over. Ponce de León apparently was searching for the Fountain of Youth in the wrong continent. I'm glad it wasn't in Florida or we'd have zombie conquistadors attacking Disney World every night; which come to think of it, would probably liven up the festivities quite a bit.

Things this movie has taught me

[msejedi · 1/10 · 31 October 2006]

• British citizens speak with American accents • Sole survivors don't age over 20 years later • Didn't that girl die earlier? • Beware the undead sunburned mannequins!! • Men cannot scream: they can only act constipated • Egyptian guards have afros • Muslims will accept cremation when the living dead are involved • The average Joe with the pudding bowl haircut always gets the girls • So many camels, but only the plastic one is OK for a close-up • The Sahara Desert: The REAL Land of the Midnight Sun • Four of your good friends turning up dead is not a reason to be scared • Organ music…it's turning me on • Listen up kids: to make love you move your shoulders

Totally unwatchable

[Maciste_Brother · 1/10 · 14 October 2003]

OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES should be called OASUX OF THE ZOMBIES. This is one of the most unwatchable movies I've had the misfortune of sitting through. I knew the "movie" had a bad rep and fortunately, I didn't pay much for the video but boy, I didn't expect it to be THIS bad. The film reminded me of the softcore porno movies from the late 1970s and early 1980s, without the sex. The producers and director probably decided to make this atrocity in between two Laura Gemser flicks. Only for masochistic diehard horror movie fans!

Jess Franco needs to stick to sexploitation art house flicks

[ericdetrick2002 · 4/10 · 2 February 2005]

There, I said what everyone else that saw this movie was thinking right? At least I am speaking for those who are familiar with Jess Franco's work. This is a good "bad in a good way" zombie flick, but not "bad in a really good way". There is too much jibber jabber. We all know why we sat down to watch this movie, let's be honest...because it had the word "zombie" in the title. I had to play the zombie scenes a few times and then in slow motion so I could get my fill. There was a good disembowelment in one scene, but it was a quickie.

I am also a fan of some of Jess Franco's sexploits so I don't mind some of the questionable story lines and dialogue that I usually get with his films, especially when English dubbed. But I wouldn't have guessed this to be a Franco picture if I didn't already know it. So, if you can rent this one or borrow it, go for it.

Most Boring Zombie Film Ever?

[gavin6942 · 2/10 · 15 February 2013]

An expedition searching for treasure supposedly buried by the German army in the African desert during WW II comes up against an army of Nazi zombies guarding the fortune.

You know, there is plenty of potential when you mix zombies with Nazis, and you have a unique twist when you put the whole thing in North Africa (typically mummy territory). Such great films as "Shock Waves" and "Dead Snow" have used he Nazi zombie theme and succeeded. Heck, even the awful "Zombie Lake" is better than this one.

I do not even know how to review the movie because it was just so boring. I care nothing about the characters or plot, and found it difficult to pay attention. This is not one of the better zombie films out there, and could probably be ranked among the worst ever made.

What's the story? Not too gory.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 26 September 2020]

1943: Allied officer Captain Blabert (Javier Maiza) and his men intercept a German convoy transporting a fortune in Nazi gold; only Blabert survives the battle, and is later found wandering the desert by nomads. Nursed back to health by Sheik Mohamed Al-Kafir (Antonio Mayans), Blabert falls for the sheikh's sexy daughter Aisha (Doris Regina), knocking her up before heading back to war. Years later, Blabert reveals the location of the lost Nazi gold to a rascal named Kurt, who promptly kills the captain and hotfoots it to the oasis. Meanwhile, Robert Blabert (Manuel Gélin), having heard of his father's death, reads some of his old man's notes and also learns about the gold; together with a handful of his college pals, he goes to meet Sheikh Mohamed, who points him in the right direction. The only problem is that the horde ($6m of it) is guarded by the undead German soldiers, who rise from the sand at night to kill!

To say that Oasis of the Zombies is Jess Franco's worst film is quite the bold statement - there are, after all, quite a few serious contenders for the title - but it definitely isn't one of his better films. While the zombie scenes themselves are reasonably fun, with quite a few craptabulous examples of the walking dead to delight fans of trashy Euro-horror, almost everything in between is pretty dire. The flimsy plot is fairly diabolical, and Franco resorts to padding out his film with a prolonged battle flashback, some local colour (including a visit to a souk for Robert and pals), and a spot of skinny-dipping and sex for Robert's pal Ronald (Eric Viellard) and documentary film-maker's assistant Erika (France Lomay, who provides the obligatory nudity). Franco also seems obsessed with a spider in a web that has zero bearing on the story, giving us lots of out-of-focus shots of the arachnid for no apparent reason.

The amazingly bad script includes these unintentional howlers: "Let's get some bottles and make molotov cocktails - like in school." and this cringe-worthy closing exchange of dialogue "Did you find what you were looking for?" "I mainly found myself." Wow, that's deep!

In terms of splatter, the film is rather disappointing, the only gory scene being the removal of one victim's innards by the hungry zombies (the zombie extras enthusiastically yanking out animal offal).

As bad as Oasis of the Zombies undeniably is, the worm-eaten zombies - some with bug-eyes, some with pin-hole eyes, and some without eyes - and the occasional spot of nudity (sadly, not from cutie Caroline Audret as Robert's friend Sylvie) stop this from being totally worthless.

3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

A little D'Amato, a little Fulci, and...voila!

[MisterWhispy · 8/10 · 31 December 2008]

Jess Franco bashers would have you believe that this is one of the worst films ever made. Well, it isn't. Not by a long shot...

In fact, this minor zombie gem is very much a blood relative to the likes of D'Amato's EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD and Fulci's ZOMBIE. They all share the same unsettling atmosphere/hypnotic dread and they all have settings in truly creepy locales.

As for the gore, it is kept to a minimum. However, the organic effects are quite excellent. These zombies truly look like grotesque dead/rotting corpses.

And as for the storyline, this is one of the few times Franco employs a traditional narrative structure. It works perfectly fine, keeping the plot simple, yet engaging. And for the naysayers, he even keeps his trademark "zooms" to a bare minimum.

Bottom line: Jess Franco may be an acquired taste, but this genre film is not.

Unnecessarily maligned zombie movie)

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 6/10 · 3 February 2018]

After hearing of his father's death, a group of friends leaves for Africa to the location of a long lost secret Nazi gold convoy, yet when a horde of zombies arise from the sand and launch an assault on the group it ends up forcing them to defend themselves against the voracious creatures.

This isn't as bad as many make it out to be. One of the better elements of the film is the rather nice amount of action scenes here, even if they're not all zombie battles. The fire-fight sequence back in the war is a fun action sequence that is far better than what's been said as it's main strength is the fact that it lasts as long as it does. This one wisely features a close-quarters battle rather than just being a singular round of gunfire and then it's over, going back and forth and featuring some really nice moments. Naturally, though, the zombies are the main part of the film's action and come off rather nicely. The fact that they have several creepy moments throughout is rather enjoyable, with the opening attack being the most creepy with off-screen noises and the general sense of the unknown really hammering it home. Their resurrection at the end through the slowly-shifting sand dunes with the hands slowly crawling out is incredibly atmospheric and goes a long way to giving them a menacing appearance. The assault on the campsite that follows is full-on action and burning bodies, and as the zombies score as well the overall scene is a general highlight. The other really nice part here is that the zombies do look suitably creepy, featuring suitably rotting faces and sand-encrusted features complete with charred Nazi uniforms. Several of them have a really rotted out eye-hole with one eye missing, and there's another which has the skin rotted away and giving the impression that its eyes are bugging out. It's a memorable look, especially with the sandy features not being a bad thing since some of them are pretty decent looking in their execution. There is surprisingly very little wrong about this one. The main issue is that the zombies don't have a whole lot of screen-time in here which is a big disappointment seeing as that limits the fact that there's no real gore on display other than some really bloody wounds on bodies that would really be more enjoyable if it was shown how they were made. The fact that Franco is also toned down a lot in the exploitation angle with the violence and sleaze is also noticeable as this really could've had more of both, and only features a fraction of what is usually in his films. The slow pace is the last major problem, and really hampers the film a lot more than it should. It takes a long time to get rolling, and the zombies being in it so little and without the usual Franco exploits this meanders around for a while until it gets going. This is filled with lots of scenes of people talking and other such activities, featuring flashbacks to the father's life back in the day or just ambling around the desert that this one never really seems to drive forward with any sense of urgency all that much. That hurts the film the most.

Rated R: Violence, Language, Nudity and a mild sex scene.

Doesn't Quite Make the Grade

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 10 February 2013]

This is yet another European zombie film which doesn't quite make the grade. The film essentially begins with a German convoy carrying gold during World War II which engages in battle with an American unit at an oasis in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Both sides are annihilated except for one American officer who is wounded but eventually rescued by a passing nomadic caravan. He is taken to a nearby village and nursed back to health. After the war, a German officer seeks to find the gold and murders the American after he tells him where the oasis is located. What he doesn't know is that the gold is protected by Nazi zombies who kill anyone comes to the oasis. At any rate, rather than disclose the entire story I will just say that the film seemed to lack harmony. In particular, I didn't care for the appearance of the zombies at all. Likewise, the script seemed somewhat disjointed. Of course, the fact that the movie was originally filmed in Spanish and dubbed in English probably had a lot to do with that. But I liked the overall premise of the movie and the fact that it featured several attractive women, France Lomay ("Erika"), Caroline Audret ("Sylvie") and Doris Regina ("Aisha"). But other than that there really isn't anything that stands out or manages to elevate this film to even an average score.